One time my five year old and I saved a jar full of spider egg cases, found in our basement, from fall to summer. Angelyn checked on them intermittently. I almost threw them out a few times but noticed that the jar was always in a different location. I assumed there was enough interest to save the project. Early in summer I was alarmed by a very loud cry from across the house, "I have babies! My baby spiders are here!" We could barely see the tiny moving dust spects. In an effort to care for them we called the nature center that we frequented and the naturalist shared Angelyn's excitement and held a 30 minute, three way phone conference with us. We learned all about spiders form an expert. We placed the egg cases on scrunched up, dark purple tissue paper to make them clearly visible. It helped us to spot and keep track of the babies too.
Contributed by Rose from Wisconsin
Monday, August 6, 2007
What was the most important thing you learned after your first year or so of homeschooling?
Well, we are not quite finished with our first year of homeschooling, but I feel I can answer this question with only two weeks of counting days to go.
I learned that I can chuck it all out the window and start over again. Always one to finish what I started, this was a hard lesson to learn. It is nice to know that if a certain math is not working, find another and try again. Or supplement. Or chuck it all for a week and do math in everyday life instead. If a book we are reading is just not working, we now go back to the library and chose another.
(Contributed by Dawn)
_____________________________
To go at my child's pace and not the program's or anyone else's. This has meant that we really can't use Lesson plans as-is, but I do feel the children have learned more effectively this way. In some areas, they already knew what they were supposed to study, (e.g. learning letter sounds isn't something you need to do all over again) -- in others they needed some extra prep work. That's one of homeschooling's greatest strengths in my view. (Contributed by Suchi from Washington)
_______________________
I'm nearing the end of my second year of homeschooling and I have a bunch of things that come to mind. I've learned not to overwhelm our family by trying to do everything. We now try to focus on the basic skills and fit in extras as time allows. I've learned not to judge my own homeschool harshly in comparison to what I see someone else doing. No two families are alike and no two families will homeschool the same way. I would get anxious as I compared my homeschool to my friends and think I needed to add to our schedule what they were doing. But eventually I've realized that there are many "right" ways to homeschool. While there will always be pieces of what others are doing that makes sense for our family, I've learned not to go flying off trying every new thing I hear someone mention if what we're already doing is working. I'm learning to say no. I live in a area with several other Catholic homeschool families. I live near a big city with many field trip opportunities. Too often I find myself saying yes to some opportunity that the kids shouldn't miss, when I really know we just need to stay home. My kids will still thrive even if they don't go on every field trip or playdate offered. I'm discovering that homeschooling doesn't have to cost much money. When I started I bought all the books that were recommended and I bought all the supplies that I thought I might need. Too much of what I bought went unused. It is difficult to really assess what our family needs until we've spent some time with a subject. I'm learning to buy the minimum at first and add on as I need. I'm learning to take full advantage of the library. I've also found being part of an on-line community invaluable. There is so much wisdom out there and I've learned an incredible amount about homeschooling since I joined these groups. (Contributed by Richelle)
I learned that I can chuck it all out the window and start over again. Always one to finish what I started, this was a hard lesson to learn. It is nice to know that if a certain math is not working, find another and try again. Or supplement. Or chuck it all for a week and do math in everyday life instead. If a book we are reading is just not working, we now go back to the library and chose another.
(Contributed by Dawn)
_____________________________
To go at my child's pace and not the program's or anyone else's. This has meant that we really can't use Lesson plans as-is, but I do feel the children have learned more effectively this way. In some areas, they already knew what they were supposed to study, (e.g. learning letter sounds isn't something you need to do all over again) -- in others they needed some extra prep work. That's one of homeschooling's greatest strengths in my view. (Contributed by Suchi from Washington)
_______________________
I'm nearing the end of my second year of homeschooling and I have a bunch of things that come to mind. I've learned not to overwhelm our family by trying to do everything. We now try to focus on the basic skills and fit in extras as time allows. I've learned not to judge my own homeschool harshly in comparison to what I see someone else doing. No two families are alike and no two families will homeschool the same way. I would get anxious as I compared my homeschool to my friends and think I needed to add to our schedule what they were doing. But eventually I've realized that there are many "right" ways to homeschool. While there will always be pieces of what others are doing that makes sense for our family, I've learned not to go flying off trying every new thing I hear someone mention if what we're already doing is working. I'm learning to say no. I live in a area with several other Catholic homeschool families. I live near a big city with many field trip opportunities. Too often I find myself saying yes to some opportunity that the kids shouldn't miss, when I really know we just need to stay home. My kids will still thrive even if they don't go on every field trip or playdate offered. I'm discovering that homeschooling doesn't have to cost much money. When I started I bought all the books that were recommended and I bought all the supplies that I thought I might need. Too much of what I bought went unused. It is difficult to really assess what our family needs until we've spent some time with a subject. I'm learning to buy the minimum at first and add on as I need. I'm learning to take full advantage of the library. I've also found being part of an on-line community invaluable. There is so much wisdom out there and I've learned an incredible amount about homeschooling since I joined these groups. (Contributed by Richelle)
Things I would have done differently if I was starting over...
1) I would never have sent my oldest dd to school for K-2.
2) I would not have changed a curriculum that was working more or less just because a more experienced homeschooler with very firm opinions and educational philosophy told me I should. Moreover, I would give up on someone else's ideas a lot faster if they didn't work..
3) I would have immediately dropped the horrible math program that came with the purchased curriculum that first year. (I still consider it the *worst* math program I have ever seen.)
4) I wish I had done more delight-directed studying with my oldest dd.
5) I would have trusted myself more.
6) I would have learned more about homeschooling and sorted out my educational philosophy before I began .
7) I would have set out lifetime and yearly goals for my children from the beginning. I would have really focused not on doing "3rd grade", but on achieving the specific goals I decided each child needed.
Things I wish I had realized.....
1) Textbooks are not evil and have their place.
2) Survey courses also have their place.
3) Cultural literacy is important -- especially for disabled kids.
4) Even very nice veteran homeschoolers can be wrong about your kids and what will work for them. Even I can be wrong!
5) It is wise to listen to more than one person on educational philosophy and/or curriculum.
6) Some people will never like math no matter what you do.
7) Even relatively successful homeschoolers have difficult kids, bad years, and weak areas.
8) Veteran homeschoolers only have more experience and knowledge than newbies. Veteran homeschoolers are human too and struggle -- even if they sound as though they have it all worked out.
9) What works now may not work for you later on. It's not just a matter of dealing with different kids -- it's also that the needs of each kid change and family dynamics also change.
10) Everyone makes mistakes. If you homeschool, you will buy some curriculum that doesn't work out or try an approach that doesn't work or whatever. You too are learning. Perfection is not found this side of heaven.
11) Buy curriculum that appeals to you. The best curriculum in the world won't be used to best effect if you can't stand it.
contributed by Deborah from Maryland
2) I would not have changed a curriculum that was working more or less just because a more experienced homeschooler with very firm opinions and educational philosophy told me I should. Moreover, I would give up on someone else's ideas a lot faster if they didn't work..
3) I would have immediately dropped the horrible math program that came with the purchased curriculum that first year. (I still consider it the *worst* math program I have ever seen.)
4) I wish I had done more delight-directed studying with my oldest dd.
5) I would have trusted myself more.
6) I would have learned more about homeschooling and sorted out my educational philosophy before I began .
7) I would have set out lifetime and yearly goals for my children from the beginning. I would have really focused not on doing "3rd grade", but on achieving the specific goals I decided each child needed.
Things I wish I had realized.....
1) Textbooks are not evil and have their place.
2) Survey courses also have their place.
3) Cultural literacy is important -- especially for disabled kids.
4) Even very nice veteran homeschoolers can be wrong about your kids and what will work for them. Even I can be wrong!
5) It is wise to listen to more than one person on educational philosophy and/or curriculum.
6) Some people will never like math no matter what you do.
7) Even relatively successful homeschoolers have difficult kids, bad years, and weak areas.
8) Veteran homeschoolers only have more experience and knowledge than newbies. Veteran homeschoolers are human too and struggle -- even if they sound as though they have it all worked out.
9) What works now may not work for you later on. It's not just a matter of dealing with different kids -- it's also that the needs of each kid change and family dynamics also change.
10) Everyone makes mistakes. If you homeschool, you will buy some curriculum that doesn't work out or try an approach that doesn't work or whatever. You too are learning. Perfection is not found this side of heaven.
11) Buy curriculum that appeals to you. The best curriculum in the world won't be used to best effect if you can't stand it.
contributed by Deborah from Maryland
Late-Night Catechism
It's almost 8 o'clock, and I really want to get these kids to bed. I've got a business to run, and work to do, and I need the time this evening.
"Mom!" Sarah calls from the open back door, "Rachel says there isn't any God. What can I say?"
The rest of the neighborhood is on our driveway making chalk creations.
"Come in here for a second, honey," I call.
She comes in the kitchen, and I search for something to say. Holy Spirit, help! I pray.
"Honey, you know you can tell Rachel that even if she doesn't believe in God, He still believes in her."
"But her parents told her, Mom! Her parents told her there is no God! How can they say that?" Sarah says, incredulous.
"I don't know, honey. I guess when parents don't believe in God, that's what they tell their children. Why don't you just go out there and be as nice to Rachel as you can," I say.
"Why?" she asks, just like a kid.
"Because I said so," I answer, just like a mom. Sometimes, I have to punt. I wasn't prepared for that question at that moment. But that is mothering on most days. It's a vocation of interruptions. I am thinking about mats and frames and glass, and suddenly, I have to wonder how parents can tell their children there is no God.
The streetlight goes on, signaling them to come in for the night.
"Pajamas!" I call as they troop in, "Teeth! Wash the chalk off! Wait-wash first! Then pajamas--then go to the bathroom! And then I'll read to you!" I try to be as efficient with my words as I want to be with my work tonight.
I am an artist's assistant. My husband is the artist. I take all of his photographs and mount, mat and frame them. I keep the records (entering every customer into a database that now holds close to two thousand names), tracking the zip codes so that I can mail our schedule of art fairs to them just prior to each show.
I also do the accounting, inventory, ordering and most phone calls.
And I homeschool.
Some days I wonder if it's really possible to do it all. Some days I think how easy it would be and how freeing to send them off to school. Then I could frame all day instead of waiting until night, when I'm tired and wish I were reading instead.
But then, I see my children watching me on the computer, and asking me how I get those numbers to add up, and I teach them how to balance a cash flow sheet. They know how much money in change we take to each show and they can tell me if we need a roll of quarters.
One daughter can help inventory our small pictures and give me the list of what needs to be printed before the next show.
And everyday, we're together, learning and growing, and most days, I am grateful for the job that keeps me home, close to my husband and children, and that has provided our family with a lifestyle that I wouldn't trade with anyone.
We travel during the school year, we work, eat and play together, and most days, I am glad I homeschool and work at home. I have always homeschooled, but not always for the good reasons I have now.
When my oldest was four, we decided to homeschool her because she was bright. They weren't going fast enough for her in preschool. So, I read all the Home Education back issues I could find in the library, and came up with my homeschooling philosophy.
I would home school for the sake for my child's inner freedom. I wouldn't test her; I would allow her to discover the world at her own pace and in her own way. This philosophy went along with my liberal thinking at the time. My child would be free of the constraints of the "system" and grow without schooling.
That worked for a couple of years. I was attracted to unschooling. It fed my lazy nature and my desire to do child-led learning. Then, two things happened by the grace of God.
First, I was introduced to the Mary Fabyan Windeatt books, the children's stories of the saints. Prior to this, I didn't know anything about the saints. The first book I read was St. Martin De Porres and it was as if everything in me changed.
I can still recall the wonderment I felt at that period of my life. I had been a "Good Enough" Catholic. I had known that something was missing, but still thought I was doing better than most. After all, I still went to mass each and every Sunday. But try as I might, I couldn't seem to make any spiritual progress. When I went to confession, I confessed the same old sins over and over. I was stuck, and but I didn't know why.
Then I read about St. Martin, and I realized that good enough wasn't good enough. I was called to be a saint! And this book, this story answered some spiritual questions I had
. Suddenly, I knew that I couldn't just go along, not caring that much about my faith. I had to do more.
And this corresponded exactly with the second thing that happened. A friend invited me to her Bible Church's Women's Bible Study. I attended for about six months. At first, I thought I was being so ecumenical and open that I could attend this bible study.
After a while, I would tell them what the Catholic Church said about certain bible verses, and try to show them that there were deeper layers of meaning. They were spending hours each week just barely scratching the surface of the bible. The words were taken literally, or skimmed over. At first they seemed to listen to me, but they did not like it when I mentioned my particular religion.
I was told not to mention my church, and to just attend and get what I could out of it. I was a bit hurt, and after that, I began to notice the subtle anti-Catholic things I was hearing. Then I found out that a lot of these women were ex-Catholics, and then I wondered why. I wondered where the truth was. I wondered if their interpretation of the bible could be the right one.
Then one day at the bible study, it all came to a head. The leader of the bible study was explaining a certain passage in St. Paul in a way I'd never heard before. I went home confused and puzzled. I looked up that passage and I could see that there wasn't a "plain" or an obvious meaning.
Maybe it did mean what she said, but somehow, I didn't think so. It seemed like a "protestant" interpretation, and I wondered if there was a "Catholic" interpretation, and why they would be different.
And for the first time in my life, I wondered how, when the bible wasn't clear, you could come to know the true meaning?
And I really credit God with giving me the understanding at that point that there was "a" truth. I somehow knew through His grace, that there couldn't be two conflicting ways of interpreting the bible.
I connected to the Internet, and looked up Catholic Bible Study and Ecumenical Bible Study. I got one hit, a site called Catholic Convert. I started reading, and found out here was a guy (Steve Ray) who actually converted to the Catholic Church! A revelation to me. The Catholics I knew were all cradle Catholics or ex-Catholics. I had never heard of anyone converting to the church, I actually didn't know it still happened!
Steve and I e-mailed. He had an article on his web site about ecumenical bible study (which is why the search engine had found his site) and he went into all the reasons that Catholics should attend only Catholic Bible studies. I understood, and started on a fantastic journey into the world of people understanding the Catholic faith a lot better than I did-the world of Catholic converts. Over the next few years, Catholic converts would teach me my faith.
After learning all I could about the church, and where the bible is from, and who had the authority to say what books were in the bible, and how there is a way to know the right interpretation of the bible, I knew at this point that if I wasn't already Catholic, I would have had to join the Catholic Church.
I can't call myself a convert, like Scott Hahn or Steve Ray. I can't call myself a revert, like Jeff Cavins. I had always been Catholic, had always practiced my faith. Still, I had a conversion from a cafeteria-style, good enough Catholic, to a "trying to be perfect" (Matt. 5:48) Catholic. So, my decision to homeschool my children also went through a conversion, and now, I homeschool to pass on the faith, to raise saints and to get my family into heaven.
So, back to my day. How do I homeschool while running a business? Like everyone else, I use the opportunities that come my way as teaching moments. We use all Catholic materials because I think that's important. There are some days where we use a lot of the curriculum materials, and on other days, when we're preparing for an art show, we teach in a less formal way. Somehow, it all works out, and there is always time for everything, even when it didn't look like it at first.
Since my conversion, I strive to overcome my lazy nature, rather than giving in to it. I work hard at giving as much of myself as I can. I try to see the sacrifices I make as helping me get to heaven, so that I won't resent the time away from "what I want to do."
Homeschooling isn't always easy. It's a sacrifice we make for our children and families. The time we give now is important, if we use that time wisely. We all have opportunities every day, and if you're like me, at the end of the day, we examine our conscience and find that we left many opportunities behind.
So, we strive to wake up tomorrow, and try a little harder, try to sacrifice a little more, try to become more and more like Jesus, like the saints. One day, a national magazine writer interviewed Mother Teresa. This writer said to Mother Teresa, "Oh, it must be so easy to do what you do, since you're a living saint and all."
Mother Teresa just smiled, turned to the writer and said, "I struggle every day."
I struggle every day, too. It's a little easier knowing the saints struggled as well. I try to be the best parent, I stop reading to answer questions, do a little impromptu catechism instruction, give an unplanned bath to the child who fell in the mud, and a thousand other vocational interruptions.
And, I struggle to be the best Catholic I can be. I try to live the Catholic life in a way that shines forth through me, my children, our family and our way of life. I try to stay calm and peaceful in the midst of the struggle of the day.
"Mommy?" I hear someone calling from the bedroom long after bedtime.
I go to my daughter's room.
"Yes, love?" I whisper.
"Can I just talk to God tonight, instead of saying the Our Father and stuff?" she wonders, sleepily.
"Yes, love," I say with an inner smile, "you can just talk to God. He will love that. Goodnight, sweetie," I say.
"'Night, Mom," she answers.
And the catechism lesson is over for another day.
Nancy Brown writes from Antioch, IL.
Her husband's beautiful photographs can be seen at www.michaelbrown.com. Steve Ray's web site can be found at: www.catholic-convert.com
Nancy blogs at Flying Stars
"Mom!" Sarah calls from the open back door, "Rachel says there isn't any God. What can I say?"
The rest of the neighborhood is on our driveway making chalk creations.
"Come in here for a second, honey," I call.
She comes in the kitchen, and I search for something to say. Holy Spirit, help! I pray.
"Honey, you know you can tell Rachel that even if she doesn't believe in God, He still believes in her."
"But her parents told her, Mom! Her parents told her there is no God! How can they say that?" Sarah says, incredulous.
"I don't know, honey. I guess when parents don't believe in God, that's what they tell their children. Why don't you just go out there and be as nice to Rachel as you can," I say.
"Why?" she asks, just like a kid.
"Because I said so," I answer, just like a mom. Sometimes, I have to punt. I wasn't prepared for that question at that moment. But that is mothering on most days. It's a vocation of interruptions. I am thinking about mats and frames and glass, and suddenly, I have to wonder how parents can tell their children there is no God.
The streetlight goes on, signaling them to come in for the night.
"Pajamas!" I call as they troop in, "Teeth! Wash the chalk off! Wait-wash first! Then pajamas--then go to the bathroom! And then I'll read to you!" I try to be as efficient with my words as I want to be with my work tonight.
I am an artist's assistant. My husband is the artist. I take all of his photographs and mount, mat and frame them. I keep the records (entering every customer into a database that now holds close to two thousand names), tracking the zip codes so that I can mail our schedule of art fairs to them just prior to each show.
I also do the accounting, inventory, ordering and most phone calls.
And I homeschool.
Some days I wonder if it's really possible to do it all. Some days I think how easy it would be and how freeing to send them off to school. Then I could frame all day instead of waiting until night, when I'm tired and wish I were reading instead.
But then, I see my children watching me on the computer, and asking me how I get those numbers to add up, and I teach them how to balance a cash flow sheet. They know how much money in change we take to each show and they can tell me if we need a roll of quarters.
One daughter can help inventory our small pictures and give me the list of what needs to be printed before the next show.
And everyday, we're together, learning and growing, and most days, I am grateful for the job that keeps me home, close to my husband and children, and that has provided our family with a lifestyle that I wouldn't trade with anyone.
We travel during the school year, we work, eat and play together, and most days, I am glad I homeschool and work at home. I have always homeschooled, but not always for the good reasons I have now.
When my oldest was four, we decided to homeschool her because she was bright. They weren't going fast enough for her in preschool. So, I read all the Home Education back issues I could find in the library, and came up with my homeschooling philosophy.
I would home school for the sake for my child's inner freedom. I wouldn't test her; I would allow her to discover the world at her own pace and in her own way. This philosophy went along with my liberal thinking at the time. My child would be free of the constraints of the "system" and grow without schooling.
That worked for a couple of years. I was attracted to unschooling. It fed my lazy nature and my desire to do child-led learning. Then, two things happened by the grace of God.
First, I was introduced to the Mary Fabyan Windeatt books, the children's stories of the saints. Prior to this, I didn't know anything about the saints. The first book I read was St. Martin De Porres and it was as if everything in me changed.
I can still recall the wonderment I felt at that period of my life. I had been a "Good Enough" Catholic. I had known that something was missing, but still thought I was doing better than most. After all, I still went to mass each and every Sunday. But try as I might, I couldn't seem to make any spiritual progress. When I went to confession, I confessed the same old sins over and over. I was stuck, and but I didn't know why.
Then I read about St. Martin, and I realized that good enough wasn't good enough. I was called to be a saint! And this book, this story answered some spiritual questions I had
. Suddenly, I knew that I couldn't just go along, not caring that much about my faith. I had to do more.
And this corresponded exactly with the second thing that happened. A friend invited me to her Bible Church's Women's Bible Study. I attended for about six months. At first, I thought I was being so ecumenical and open that I could attend this bible study.
After a while, I would tell them what the Catholic Church said about certain bible verses, and try to show them that there were deeper layers of meaning. They were spending hours each week just barely scratching the surface of the bible. The words were taken literally, or skimmed over. At first they seemed to listen to me, but they did not like it when I mentioned my particular religion.
I was told not to mention my church, and to just attend and get what I could out of it. I was a bit hurt, and after that, I began to notice the subtle anti-Catholic things I was hearing. Then I found out that a lot of these women were ex-Catholics, and then I wondered why. I wondered where the truth was. I wondered if their interpretation of the bible could be the right one.
Then one day at the bible study, it all came to a head. The leader of the bible study was explaining a certain passage in St. Paul in a way I'd never heard before. I went home confused and puzzled. I looked up that passage and I could see that there wasn't a "plain" or an obvious meaning.
Maybe it did mean what she said, but somehow, I didn't think so. It seemed like a "protestant" interpretation, and I wondered if there was a "Catholic" interpretation, and why they would be different.
And for the first time in my life, I wondered how, when the bible wasn't clear, you could come to know the true meaning?
And I really credit God with giving me the understanding at that point that there was "a" truth. I somehow knew through His grace, that there couldn't be two conflicting ways of interpreting the bible.
I connected to the Internet, and looked up Catholic Bible Study and Ecumenical Bible Study. I got one hit, a site called Catholic Convert. I started reading, and found out here was a guy (Steve Ray) who actually converted to the Catholic Church! A revelation to me. The Catholics I knew were all cradle Catholics or ex-Catholics. I had never heard of anyone converting to the church, I actually didn't know it still happened!
Steve and I e-mailed. He had an article on his web site about ecumenical bible study (which is why the search engine had found his site) and he went into all the reasons that Catholics should attend only Catholic Bible studies. I understood, and started on a fantastic journey into the world of people understanding the Catholic faith a lot better than I did-the world of Catholic converts. Over the next few years, Catholic converts would teach me my faith.
After learning all I could about the church, and where the bible is from, and who had the authority to say what books were in the bible, and how there is a way to know the right interpretation of the bible, I knew at this point that if I wasn't already Catholic, I would have had to join the Catholic Church.
I can't call myself a convert, like Scott Hahn or Steve Ray. I can't call myself a revert, like Jeff Cavins. I had always been Catholic, had always practiced my faith. Still, I had a conversion from a cafeteria-style, good enough Catholic, to a "trying to be perfect" (Matt. 5:48) Catholic. So, my decision to homeschool my children also went through a conversion, and now, I homeschool to pass on the faith, to raise saints and to get my family into heaven.
So, back to my day. How do I homeschool while running a business? Like everyone else, I use the opportunities that come my way as teaching moments. We use all Catholic materials because I think that's important. There are some days where we use a lot of the curriculum materials, and on other days, when we're preparing for an art show, we teach in a less formal way. Somehow, it all works out, and there is always time for everything, even when it didn't look like it at first.
Since my conversion, I strive to overcome my lazy nature, rather than giving in to it. I work hard at giving as much of myself as I can. I try to see the sacrifices I make as helping me get to heaven, so that I won't resent the time away from "what I want to do."
Homeschooling isn't always easy. It's a sacrifice we make for our children and families. The time we give now is important, if we use that time wisely. We all have opportunities every day, and if you're like me, at the end of the day, we examine our conscience and find that we left many opportunities behind.
So, we strive to wake up tomorrow, and try a little harder, try to sacrifice a little more, try to become more and more like Jesus, like the saints. One day, a national magazine writer interviewed Mother Teresa. This writer said to Mother Teresa, "Oh, it must be so easy to do what you do, since you're a living saint and all."
Mother Teresa just smiled, turned to the writer and said, "I struggle every day."
I struggle every day, too. It's a little easier knowing the saints struggled as well. I try to be the best parent, I stop reading to answer questions, do a little impromptu catechism instruction, give an unplanned bath to the child who fell in the mud, and a thousand other vocational interruptions.
And, I struggle to be the best Catholic I can be. I try to live the Catholic life in a way that shines forth through me, my children, our family and our way of life. I try to stay calm and peaceful in the midst of the struggle of the day.
"Mommy?" I hear someone calling from the bedroom long after bedtime.
I go to my daughter's room.
"Yes, love?" I whisper.
"Can I just talk to God tonight, instead of saying the Our Father and stuff?" she wonders, sleepily.
"Yes, love," I say with an inner smile, "you can just talk to God. He will love that. Goodnight, sweetie," I say.
"'Night, Mom," she answers.
And the catechism lesson is over for another day.
Nancy Brown writes from Antioch, IL.
Her husband's beautiful photographs can be seen at www.michaelbrown.com. Steve Ray's web site can be found at: www.catholic-convert.com
Nancy blogs at Flying Stars
Life Education
I would like to share a brief anecdote about the benefit of homeschooling for my family in passing on the faith, and to fight the struggle some of us feel about whether or not we should put our kids in school.
On Feb 1 our family welcomed our 4th baby. A very fat and contented little fellow, named Blaise. As you can imagine very little homeschooling got done those first 6 weeks of his life at home with us.
Just about a month after getting back on track with our lesson plans, my father suffered a massive stroke which rendered him speechless and virtually helpless. It put him in the hospital, where he stayed for about 3 weeks and on May 9, Mother's Day, he passed away.
Needless to say, there hasn't been much homeschooling going on at my house again for the past month or so. At first it led me to think that I would have been better off putting the kids in school this year, had I been able to see ahead to what was going to happen. We have lost a lot of book time and I worry about those things a lot. But, after some worry and lots of prayer, it came to me what a life education my children have had since the beginning of February.
They have been an integral part in welcoming a new life into our fold. They "do" for Blaise at every opportunity. I am sure that he must think he is the prince of the household, since it is apparent it all revolves around him. They have been experiencing in a very real and tangible way, that their cooperation is not only appreciated but needed and that God didn't just chose THIS mommy and THIS daddy for Blaise, but He chose this whole family. THIS particular oldest sister, THIS big brother, etc.
Fast on the heels of Blaise's arrival, my children ministered to my father, their beloved grandfather, each of his last days on this earth. They soothed him physically, prayed for his soul diligently (my father was not a Catholic), and had the patience to simply be with him and hold his hand. My 47 year old brother said that he learned how to be with a dying person by watching my children. What a testimony to the fact that my children organically, intrinsically, intuitively know that life is valuable from it's beginning to its end, simply because God loves us.
What a great privilege God has accorded me by letting me nurture my family in this way. He must love me greatly!
contributed by Kate from British Columbia
On Feb 1 our family welcomed our 4th baby. A very fat and contented little fellow, named Blaise. As you can imagine very little homeschooling got done those first 6 weeks of his life at home with us.
Just about a month after getting back on track with our lesson plans, my father suffered a massive stroke which rendered him speechless and virtually helpless. It put him in the hospital, where he stayed for about 3 weeks and on May 9, Mother's Day, he passed away.
Needless to say, there hasn't been much homeschooling going on at my house again for the past month or so. At first it led me to think that I would have been better off putting the kids in school this year, had I been able to see ahead to what was going to happen. We have lost a lot of book time and I worry about those things a lot. But, after some worry and lots of prayer, it came to me what a life education my children have had since the beginning of February.
They have been an integral part in welcoming a new life into our fold. They "do" for Blaise at every opportunity. I am sure that he must think he is the prince of the household, since it is apparent it all revolves around him. They have been experiencing in a very real and tangible way, that their cooperation is not only appreciated but needed and that God didn't just chose THIS mommy and THIS daddy for Blaise, but He chose this whole family. THIS particular oldest sister, THIS big brother, etc.
Fast on the heels of Blaise's arrival, my children ministered to my father, their beloved grandfather, each of his last days on this earth. They soothed him physically, prayed for his soul diligently (my father was not a Catholic), and had the patience to simply be with him and hold his hand. My 47 year old brother said that he learned how to be with a dying person by watching my children. What a testimony to the fact that my children organically, intrinsically, intuitively know that life is valuable from it's beginning to its end, simply because God loves us.
What a great privilege God has accorded me by letting me nurture my family in this way. He must love me greatly!
contributed by Kate from British Columbia
25 Ways to Inspire a Love of Learning in Your Children
1. Go outside and look at the stars together. Learn the names of a few of the constellations.
2. Play with your children – sports, legos, board games, hide-and-seek, etc.
3. Educational DVDs & videos can be a good way to get them interested in a new Science or History topic. (use the “pause” button to stop and chat)
4. Children love “real” things. Let them help you with real jobs and house projects.
5. Play “the stair game” – quiz your children on anything and let them take a step forward with each correct answer.
6. Go to the beach (forest, pond, desert) and draw pictures of what you find.
7. Attend a concert -- community orchestra or band types are especially family friendly!
8. Attend sports matches – especially community ones.
9. Plan ahead for an art museum trip by introducing each child to a beautiful painting they can search for once you arrive.
10. Spend time with other families who love learning.
11. Shoot a game of pool and discuss the geometry you are using.
12. Pop a batch of popcorn and sit down to a good family read aloud.
13. Go on an adventure walk in your own neighborhood. Bring water bottles and magnifying glasses!
14. Have Grandpa or Grandma teach you a new card game.
15. Set up a book club with a couple of friends and their moms or dads.
16. Choose a country and find recipes native to that place. Invite several friends to do the same, and get together for a day of ethnic cooking.
17. Take a class yourself -- community college? online? -- and share what you are learning with your children.
18. Join another family for an afternoon of crafts or board games.
19. Learn to count to ten in a foreign language.
20. Plant a garden. Have a contest to see who can grow the tallest sunflower.
21. Visit museums, zoos and libraries together.
22. Have some special outings with one child at a time.
23. Talk about their studies around the dinner table.
24. Hang maps on your walls.
25. Let your children see that you love learning too.
2. Play with your children – sports, legos, board games, hide-and-seek, etc.
3. Educational DVDs & videos can be a good way to get them interested in a new Science or History topic. (use the “pause” button to stop and chat)
4. Children love “real” things. Let them help you with real jobs and house projects.
5. Play “the stair game” – quiz your children on anything and let them take a step forward with each correct answer.
6. Go to the beach (forest, pond, desert) and draw pictures of what you find.
7. Attend a concert -- community orchestra or band types are especially family friendly!
8. Attend sports matches – especially community ones.
9. Plan ahead for an art museum trip by introducing each child to a beautiful painting they can search for once you arrive.
10. Spend time with other families who love learning.
11. Shoot a game of pool and discuss the geometry you are using.
12. Pop a batch of popcorn and sit down to a good family read aloud.
13. Go on an adventure walk in your own neighborhood. Bring water bottles and magnifying glasses!
14. Have Grandpa or Grandma teach you a new card game.
15. Set up a book club with a couple of friends and their moms or dads.
16. Choose a country and find recipes native to that place. Invite several friends to do the same, and get together for a day of ethnic cooking.
17. Take a class yourself -- community college? online? -- and share what you are learning with your children.
18. Join another family for an afternoon of crafts or board games.
19. Learn to count to ten in a foreign language.
20. Plant a garden. Have a contest to see who can grow the tallest sunflower.
21. Visit museums, zoos and libraries together.
22. Have some special outings with one child at a time.
23. Talk about their studies around the dinner table.
24. Hang maps on your walls.
25. Let your children see that you love learning too.
Quotes to Ponder on Children and Education
Through the grace of the sacrament of marriage, parents receive the responsibility and privilege of evangelizing their children. Parents should initiate their children at an early age into the mysteries of the faith of which they are the "first heralds" for their children. ... Education in the faith by the parents should begin in the child's earliest years. This already happens when family members help one another to grow in faith by the witness of a Christian life in keeping with the Gospel.
(The Catechism of the Catholic Church 2225-2226)
It should be the objective and is definitely the responsibility of every rational Catholic mother and father to see that the child is educated, so that he can be truly Catholic with the consent of all his faculties.
(Francis Crotty, Implementation of Ignatian Education in the Home)
Jesus…said to them, "Let the children come to me, do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands upon them.
(Mark 10:14-16)
So often people say that we should look to the elderly, learn from their wisdom, their many years. I disagree, I say we should look to the young: untarnished, without stereotypes implanted in their minds, no poison, no hatred in their hearts. When we learn to see life through the eyes of a child, that is when we become truly wise.
(Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta )
When married couples and their children show their human and supernatural affection for one another, they personally encounter Jesus Christ, who has said, "Believe me, when you did it to one of the least of my brethren here, you did it to me."
(Javier Abad, Eugenio Fenoy Marriage: A Path to Sanctity)
…in the Divine solicitude for children was the affirmation that there are certain elements in childhood which ought to be preserved in the highest manhood; that no man is truly great unless he can recapture something of the simplicity and humility of the child.
(Archbishop Fulton Sheen)
Who does not know that to teach a child to feed himself, to wash and dress himself, is a much more tedious and difficult work, calling for infinitely greater patience, than feeding, washing and dressing the child one's self? But the former is the work of an educator, the latter is the easy and inferior work of a servant. Not only is it easier for the mother, but it is very dangerous for the child, since it closes the way and puts obstacles in the path of the life which is developing.
(Maria Montessori The Montessori Method)
Patience is faith in action. Patience is emotional diligence. It's the willingness to suffer inside so that others can grow. It reveals love. It gives birth to understanding. Even as we become aware of our suffering in love, we learn about ourselves and our own weaknesses and motives.
(Stephen Covey The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families)
What use is it to pile task on task and prolong the days of labor, if at the close the chief object is left unattained? It is not the fault of the teachers--they work only too hard already. The combined folly of a civilization that has forgotten its own roots is forcing them to shore up the tottering weight of an educational structure that is built upon sand. They are doing for their pupils the work which the pupils themselves ought to do. For the sole true end of education is simply this: to teach men how to learn for themselves; and whatever instruction fails to do this is effort spent in vain.
(Dorothy Sayers "the Lost Tools of Learning")
If I were to have to label much educational material today, I'm afraid a large percentage would definitely be twaddle. How colorfully and scientifically our generation talks down to the little child! What insipid, stupid, dull stories are trotted out! And we don't stop there. We don't respect the children's thinking or let them come to any conclusions themselves! We ply them with endless questions, the ones we've thought up, instead of being silent and letting the child's questions bubble up with interest.
(Susan Schaeffer Macaulay For the Children's Sake)
The most basic element … is parental love, which finds fulfillment in the task of education as it completes and perfects its service of life.
(Pope John Paul II Familiaris Consortio)
To educate means to help someone understand the elements of reality in their fruitful multiplying, up to a totality which is always the true horizon of our actions.
(Msgr. Luigi Giussani The Risk of Education)
Our Lord wants us all to be the leaven in the dough of society. But He wants us to do this when we are properly prepared. Our job as parents is to prepare our children to be ready for the service to which God will call them. We need to furnish the children's minds and hearts with the true, the good and the beautiful, so that they may speak "in season and out of season" of the faith they have been given.
(Laura Berquist "Character Formation" Sursum Corda Fall 1998)
Kindness has converted more sinners than zeal, eloquence or learning.
(Fr. Frederick W. Faber )
Catholic education is the comprehensive system of interior formation which is ordered throughout by the concept and confidence in the Incarnation. The mystery of the Incarnation itself rests on an orderly sense of Creation and the confidence it gives is sustained in the face of sin by faith in the mystery of the Cross of Jesus.
(Mary Daly, Essay on a Curriculum for the Culture of Life)
Talk to your children about their academic work. Conversation with you is the most formative part of their intellectual life.
(Laura Berquist Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum)
It has always therefore been one of my main endeavours as a teacher to persuade the young that first-hand knowledge is not only more worth acquiring than second-hand knowledge, but is usually much easier and more delightful to acquire.
(C.S. Lewis, Introduction to On the Incarnation by St. Athanasius)
It is necessary not only that religious instruction be given to the young at certain fixed times, but also that every other subject taught, be permeated with Christian piety. If this is wanting, if this sacred atmosphere does not pervade and warm the hearts of masters and scholars alike, little good can be expected from any kind of learning, and considerable harm will often be the consequence.
(Pius XI, On Christian Education)
Unless a man's will has a purpose and it is a good one, education will do nothing for him except to fortify his own egotism.
(Archbishop Fulton Sheen)
"Diligence must be cultivated as daily habit so that it is a joy."
(Shinichi Suzuki, Young Children's Talent Education and Its Method)
God wouldn't have given us an intellect, if he didn't want us to think straight.
(Msgr. Ronald Knox)
"It is a great thing to be brought into the presence of a law, of a whole system of laws, that exist without our concurrence--that two straight lines cannot enclose a space is a fact that we can perceive, state and act upon but cannot in any wise alter, should give to children the sense of limitation which is wholesome for all of us, and inspire that sursum corda which we should hear in all natural law."
(Charlotte Mason, A Philosophy of Education)
Let us be faithful teachers. No matter what the pace, children need to know they can accomplish the tasks set before them. Meeting grade-level requirements in the early years is not as important as steadfast effort.
(K. Andreola A Charlotte Mason Companion)
No amount of pious training or pious culture will protect the faithful, or preserve them from the contamination of the age, if they are left inferior to non-Catholics in secular learning and intellectual development. The faithful must be guarded and protected by being trained and disciplined to grapple with the false systems of the age…. They must be better armed than their opponents - surpass them in the strength and vigor of their minds, and in the extent and variety of their knowledge. They must, on all occasions and against all adversaries, be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in them.
(Orestes Brownson Catholic Polemics)
You [should] think effectiveness with people and efficiency with things… I see many parents, particularly mothers with small children, often frustrated in their desire to accomplish a lot because all they seem to do is meet the needs of little children all day. Remember, frustration is a function of our expectations, and our expectations are often a reflection of the social mirror rather than our own values and priorities.
(Stephen Covey The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People)
The answer is a balance between structure and non-structure. But this balance must be reached after a consideration of various factors. These factors include the age of the student, the learning ability, the best learning style for the student, the teacher-mother's ability, and the subject matter itself.
(Mary Kay Clark Catholic Home Schooling)
Hence every form of pedagogic naturalism …Every method of education founded, wholly or in part, on the denial or forgetfulness of original sin and of grace, and relying on the sole powers of human nature, is unsound. …If any of these terms are used, less properly, to denote the necessity of a gradually more active cooperation on the part of the pupil in his own education… this would be correct, but in no way new. It would mean only what has been taught and reduced to practice by the Church … in imitation of the method employed by God Himself towards His creatures, of whom He demands active cooperation according to the nature of each.
(Pope Pius XI, On Christian Education)
It has been said that some of the great geniuses of the past never read half as much as the mediocre geniuses today, but what they read they understood and incorporated into a deeper dimension of knowledge.
(Archbishop Fulton Sheen)
True followers of Christ were meant to be at odds with the world: The pure of heart will be laughed at by the Freudians; the meek will be scorned by the Marxists; the humble will be walked on by the go-getters; the liberal Sadducees will call them reactionaries; the reactionary Pharisees will call them liberals.
(Archbishop Fulton Sheen)
Parents have the first responsibility for the education of their children. They bear witness to this responsibility by creating a home where tenderness, forgiveness, respect, fidelity, and disinterested service are the rule. The home is well suited for education in the virtues. This requires an apprenticeship in self-denial, sound judgment, and self-mastery-- the preconditions of all true freedom. Parents should teach their children to subordinate the "material and instinctual dimensions to interior and spiritual ones." Parents have a grave responsibility to give good example to their children. By knowing how to acknowledge their own failings to their children, parents will be better able to guide and correct them.
(The Catechism of the Catholic Church #2223)
If it be true that the world has lost its respect for authority, it is only because it lost it first in the home.
(Archbishop Fulton Sheen)
We teach our children more effectively when we develop our interior life with God, learn the Faith better through ongoing scriptural and catechetical instruction, and grow in virtue.
(Hahn & Hasson Catholic Education: Homeward Bound)
The key to successful Catholic homeschooling is living the sacramental life.
(Mary Kay Clark Catholic Home Schooling)
Besides giving an example of personal holiness, we can encourage maturity and spiritual growth in our children by providing ample opportunity for them to grow steadily in unselfish ways. Virtue and vice are both habits, learned through repetition. Help your child to learn early in life the good habits of virtue, first through service to his family then in going out of himself to love and serve his neighbor.
(Catholic Heritage Curricula, 3rd Grade Lesson Plans)
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
(Matthew 5:14-16)
Any book which inspires us to lead a better life is a good book.
(Archbishop Fulton Sheen)
All knowledge is sterile which does not lead to action and end in charity.
(Cardinal Desire Joseph Mercier)
There is little point in keeping children out of Hell if you don't afford them the means of getting into Heaven. So give them solid catechetics, strong preaching, good example, healthy exercise, supervision in a general and determinant way but not in each particular and by all means permitting them the freedom of the good, dangerous books as well as the dangerous games such as football, or mountain climbing. Given the state of man, some will break their necks and sin; but in good Catholic families with common sense, the falls should be few and the bodies and souls recoverable.
(John Senior, The Restoration of Christian Culture)
... the rights of the family and of the State, even the rights of individuals regarding a just liberty in the pursuit of science, of methods of science and all sorts of profane culture, not only are not opposed to this pre-eminence of the Church, but are in complete harmony with it. The fundamental reason for this harmony is that the supernatural order, to which the Church owes her rights, not only does not in the least destroy the natural order, to which pertain the other rights mentioned, but elevates the natural and perfects it, each affording mutual aid to the other, and completing it in a manner proportioned to its respective nature and dignity. The reason is because both come from God, who cannot contradict Himself.
(Pope Pius XI, On Christian Education)
The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried.
(G.K. Chesterton What's Wrong with the World)
Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day.
( Matthew 6:34)
(The Catechism of the Catholic Church 2225-2226)
It should be the objective and is definitely the responsibility of every rational Catholic mother and father to see that the child is educated, so that he can be truly Catholic with the consent of all his faculties.
(Francis Crotty, Implementation of Ignatian Education in the Home)
Jesus…said to them, "Let the children come to me, do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands upon them.
(Mark 10:14-16)
So often people say that we should look to the elderly, learn from their wisdom, their many years. I disagree, I say we should look to the young: untarnished, without stereotypes implanted in their minds, no poison, no hatred in their hearts. When we learn to see life through the eyes of a child, that is when we become truly wise.
(Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta )
When married couples and their children show their human and supernatural affection for one another, they personally encounter Jesus Christ, who has said, "Believe me, when you did it to one of the least of my brethren here, you did it to me."
(Javier Abad, Eugenio Fenoy Marriage: A Path to Sanctity)
…in the Divine solicitude for children was the affirmation that there are certain elements in childhood which ought to be preserved in the highest manhood; that no man is truly great unless he can recapture something of the simplicity and humility of the child.
(Archbishop Fulton Sheen)
Who does not know that to teach a child to feed himself, to wash and dress himself, is a much more tedious and difficult work, calling for infinitely greater patience, than feeding, washing and dressing the child one's self? But the former is the work of an educator, the latter is the easy and inferior work of a servant. Not only is it easier for the mother, but it is very dangerous for the child, since it closes the way and puts obstacles in the path of the life which is developing.
(Maria Montessori The Montessori Method)
Patience is faith in action. Patience is emotional diligence. It's the willingness to suffer inside so that others can grow. It reveals love. It gives birth to understanding. Even as we become aware of our suffering in love, we learn about ourselves and our own weaknesses and motives.
(Stephen Covey The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families)
What use is it to pile task on task and prolong the days of labor, if at the close the chief object is left unattained? It is not the fault of the teachers--they work only too hard already. The combined folly of a civilization that has forgotten its own roots is forcing them to shore up the tottering weight of an educational structure that is built upon sand. They are doing for their pupils the work which the pupils themselves ought to do. For the sole true end of education is simply this: to teach men how to learn for themselves; and whatever instruction fails to do this is effort spent in vain.
(Dorothy Sayers "the Lost Tools of Learning")
If I were to have to label much educational material today, I'm afraid a large percentage would definitely be twaddle. How colorfully and scientifically our generation talks down to the little child! What insipid, stupid, dull stories are trotted out! And we don't stop there. We don't respect the children's thinking or let them come to any conclusions themselves! We ply them with endless questions, the ones we've thought up, instead of being silent and letting the child's questions bubble up with interest.
(Susan Schaeffer Macaulay For the Children's Sake)
The most basic element … is parental love, which finds fulfillment in the task of education as it completes and perfects its service of life.
(Pope John Paul II Familiaris Consortio)
To educate means to help someone understand the elements of reality in their fruitful multiplying, up to a totality which is always the true horizon of our actions.
(Msgr. Luigi Giussani The Risk of Education)
Our Lord wants us all to be the leaven in the dough of society. But He wants us to do this when we are properly prepared. Our job as parents is to prepare our children to be ready for the service to which God will call them. We need to furnish the children's minds and hearts with the true, the good and the beautiful, so that they may speak "in season and out of season" of the faith they have been given.
(Laura Berquist "Character Formation" Sursum Corda Fall 1998)
Kindness has converted more sinners than zeal, eloquence or learning.
(Fr. Frederick W. Faber )
Catholic education is the comprehensive system of interior formation which is ordered throughout by the concept and confidence in the Incarnation. The mystery of the Incarnation itself rests on an orderly sense of Creation and the confidence it gives is sustained in the face of sin by faith in the mystery of the Cross of Jesus.
(Mary Daly, Essay on a Curriculum for the Culture of Life)
Talk to your children about their academic work. Conversation with you is the most formative part of their intellectual life.
(Laura Berquist Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum)
It has always therefore been one of my main endeavours as a teacher to persuade the young that first-hand knowledge is not only more worth acquiring than second-hand knowledge, but is usually much easier and more delightful to acquire.
(C.S. Lewis, Introduction to On the Incarnation by St. Athanasius)
It is necessary not only that religious instruction be given to the young at certain fixed times, but also that every other subject taught, be permeated with Christian piety. If this is wanting, if this sacred atmosphere does not pervade and warm the hearts of masters and scholars alike, little good can be expected from any kind of learning, and considerable harm will often be the consequence.
(Pius XI, On Christian Education)
Unless a man's will has a purpose and it is a good one, education will do nothing for him except to fortify his own egotism.
(Archbishop Fulton Sheen)
"Diligence must be cultivated as daily habit so that it is a joy."
(Shinichi Suzuki, Young Children's Talent Education and Its Method)
God wouldn't have given us an intellect, if he didn't want us to think straight.
(Msgr. Ronald Knox)
"It is a great thing to be brought into the presence of a law, of a whole system of laws, that exist without our concurrence--that two straight lines cannot enclose a space is a fact that we can perceive, state and act upon but cannot in any wise alter, should give to children the sense of limitation which is wholesome for all of us, and inspire that sursum corda which we should hear in all natural law."
(Charlotte Mason, A Philosophy of Education)
Let us be faithful teachers. No matter what the pace, children need to know they can accomplish the tasks set before them. Meeting grade-level requirements in the early years is not as important as steadfast effort.
(K. Andreola A Charlotte Mason Companion)
No amount of pious training or pious culture will protect the faithful, or preserve them from the contamination of the age, if they are left inferior to non-Catholics in secular learning and intellectual development. The faithful must be guarded and protected by being trained and disciplined to grapple with the false systems of the age…. They must be better armed than their opponents - surpass them in the strength and vigor of their minds, and in the extent and variety of their knowledge. They must, on all occasions and against all adversaries, be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in them.
(Orestes Brownson Catholic Polemics)
You [should] think effectiveness with people and efficiency with things… I see many parents, particularly mothers with small children, often frustrated in their desire to accomplish a lot because all they seem to do is meet the needs of little children all day. Remember, frustration is a function of our expectations, and our expectations are often a reflection of the social mirror rather than our own values and priorities.
(Stephen Covey The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People)
The answer is a balance between structure and non-structure. But this balance must be reached after a consideration of various factors. These factors include the age of the student, the learning ability, the best learning style for the student, the teacher-mother's ability, and the subject matter itself.
(Mary Kay Clark Catholic Home Schooling)
Hence every form of pedagogic naturalism …Every method of education founded, wholly or in part, on the denial or forgetfulness of original sin and of grace, and relying on the sole powers of human nature, is unsound. …If any of these terms are used, less properly, to denote the necessity of a gradually more active cooperation on the part of the pupil in his own education… this would be correct, but in no way new. It would mean only what has been taught and reduced to practice by the Church … in imitation of the method employed by God Himself towards His creatures, of whom He demands active cooperation according to the nature of each.
(Pope Pius XI, On Christian Education)
It has been said that some of the great geniuses of the past never read half as much as the mediocre geniuses today, but what they read they understood and incorporated into a deeper dimension of knowledge.
(Archbishop Fulton Sheen)
True followers of Christ were meant to be at odds with the world: The pure of heart will be laughed at by the Freudians; the meek will be scorned by the Marxists; the humble will be walked on by the go-getters; the liberal Sadducees will call them reactionaries; the reactionary Pharisees will call them liberals.
(Archbishop Fulton Sheen)
Parents have the first responsibility for the education of their children. They bear witness to this responsibility by creating a home where tenderness, forgiveness, respect, fidelity, and disinterested service are the rule. The home is well suited for education in the virtues. This requires an apprenticeship in self-denial, sound judgment, and self-mastery-- the preconditions of all true freedom. Parents should teach their children to subordinate the "material and instinctual dimensions to interior and spiritual ones." Parents have a grave responsibility to give good example to their children. By knowing how to acknowledge their own failings to their children, parents will be better able to guide and correct them.
(The Catechism of the Catholic Church #2223)
If it be true that the world has lost its respect for authority, it is only because it lost it first in the home.
(Archbishop Fulton Sheen)
We teach our children more effectively when we develop our interior life with God, learn the Faith better through ongoing scriptural and catechetical instruction, and grow in virtue.
(Hahn & Hasson Catholic Education: Homeward Bound)
The key to successful Catholic homeschooling is living the sacramental life.
(Mary Kay Clark Catholic Home Schooling)
Besides giving an example of personal holiness, we can encourage maturity and spiritual growth in our children by providing ample opportunity for them to grow steadily in unselfish ways. Virtue and vice are both habits, learned through repetition. Help your child to learn early in life the good habits of virtue, first through service to his family then in going out of himself to love and serve his neighbor.
(Catholic Heritage Curricula, 3rd Grade Lesson Plans)
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
(Matthew 5:14-16)
Any book which inspires us to lead a better life is a good book.
(Archbishop Fulton Sheen)
All knowledge is sterile which does not lead to action and end in charity.
(Cardinal Desire Joseph Mercier)
There is little point in keeping children out of Hell if you don't afford them the means of getting into Heaven. So give them solid catechetics, strong preaching, good example, healthy exercise, supervision in a general and determinant way but not in each particular and by all means permitting them the freedom of the good, dangerous books as well as the dangerous games such as football, or mountain climbing. Given the state of man, some will break their necks and sin; but in good Catholic families with common sense, the falls should be few and the bodies and souls recoverable.
(John Senior, The Restoration of Christian Culture)
... the rights of the family and of the State, even the rights of individuals regarding a just liberty in the pursuit of science, of methods of science and all sorts of profane culture, not only are not opposed to this pre-eminence of the Church, but are in complete harmony with it. The fundamental reason for this harmony is that the supernatural order, to which the Church owes her rights, not only does not in the least destroy the natural order, to which pertain the other rights mentioned, but elevates the natural and perfects it, each affording mutual aid to the other, and completing it in a manner proportioned to its respective nature and dignity. The reason is because both come from God, who cannot contradict Himself.
(Pope Pius XI, On Christian Education)
The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried.
(G.K. Chesterton What's Wrong with the World)
Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day.
( Matthew 6:34)
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